MICHAEL CROTTA

9/25/84; '06 17th; Florida Atlantic Univ.
R/R; 6-6, 210

Level

W-L-Sv

BB/9

K/9

WHIP

OAVG

ERA

2004 NCAA

5-4-1

64.0

1.7

7.2

1.52

5.20

2005 NCAA

5-4-3

80.2

114

2.5

6.8

1.69

5.91

2006 NCAA

2-2-6

38.2

4.2

10.5

1.81

.317

5.82

2006 A

1-2-0

17.1

1.0

3.6

2.19

.424

10.38

2006 A-

1-3-0

43.2

0.8

5.8

1.08

.262

2.68

2007 AA

0-1-0

2.2

6.8

0.0

3.01

.400

10.12

2007 A

10-5-0

137.1

167

1.8

4.9

1.42

.298

4.39

2008 A+

9-10-0

146.1

171

1.5

6.0

1.34

.284

4.67

2009 AA

7-8-0

143.2

181

2.1

6.1

1.49

.304

4.76

Baseball America described Crotta, when he was drafted, as having a good change, an 88-92 fastball, and a splitter. The Pirates believed he had an average fastball and change, but needed to work on a breaking ball. Whatever he was throwing, he certainly got hit hard throughout his college career. He wasn't pitching in a severe hitters' environment, either, as his ERAs were well above the team average. Crotta signed quickly and started off at Williamsport, where he posted a low ERA, but an above average opponents' BA and a low K rate. The Pirates promoted him to Hickory for four starts and, to put it mildly, he got torched. He hardly walked anybody, but hitters were too busy teeing off against him. He had a 2.22 ground out to fly out ratio overall. Crotta fits a profile that the Pirates seemed to love until the change in management: very hittable, groundball pitchers with low K rates.

Back at Hickory in 2007, Crotta had about the season you'd expect: very few walks or Ks, lots of groundballs (2.58 GO/AO ratio), and lots of hits. He had serious problems with LH hitters, who batted .343 against him. He got hammered in a fill-in start for Altoona. The fact that the hits he allowed were predominantly singles kept his ERA within reason, but Zach Duke's struggles have shown that very hittable pitchers giving up huge numbers of singles is a formula that just doesn't work at higher levels. One good sign, though, was that he pitched much better in July and August, posting ERAs of 2.78 and 3.51 in those months, although his K rate remained very low. He opened 2008 with Lynchburg and had an interesting season. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates wouldn't allow their minor league pitchers to throw sinkers for much of the season. After their experiences with Franquelis Osoria, it makes sense that they wouldn't want young pitchers just throwing sinkers all the time, which often works fine in the minors but not in the majors. In the last couple months they let Crotta resume throwing sinkers. His ERA through the end of June was 5.65. After that it was 3.70. The primary differences were that he walked fewer batters and allowed only one of his eight HRs after June; he still allowed 86 hits in 73.0 IP. Crotta remained an extreme groundball pitcher, with a groundout to air out ratio of 2.74. He did increase his K rate, but it remains very low. He also continued to have trouble with LH hitters, who batted .310 against him with five HRs, compared to .265 with three HRs in many more ABs for RH hitters.

Crotta spent 2009 in the Altoona rotation. His stuff seems to have improved. Late in the year he was throwing 91-94, with decent secondary pitches. He tended, though, to pitch well in the first couple innings and then start to struggle more. I don't know whether that's an issue with stamina, a lack of deception or movement, or some other reason, but his stuff seems good enough that opponents shouldn't be batting over .300 against him. He might be able to reach the majors as a reliever. He continued to be a groundball pitcher, with a GO/AO ratio of 1.98, and he did a good job of keeping the ball in the park. Crotta will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this fall, but it's unlikely he'll get added to the 40-man roster or selected in the draft. Most likely he'll return to Altoona.

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